Peanut-stripping machine.



T. W. JOCKISCH.

PEANUT STRIPPING MACHINE. APPLlcAUoN man 0150.2. 1916.

Patented QDec. 18, 19]?.

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PEANUTVSTRWPING MACHINE. APPUCATIQN FILED DEC.2. 1916.

Patented D66. 18, 1917.

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TWJOCPQSCH Y of the following description.

UNITED sTArEsrATENT OFFICE.

frnisonomi w. JoCKIscinor ennnivsnono, ALABAMA.

PEANUT-STRIPPING MACHINE.

specification pf Letters Patent. Patented Dec, 18, 1917,

Application filed. December 2, 1916. Serial No. 134,724.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, lTHEoDoRE W. J oC- KISGH, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Gfreensboropin the county of Hale and State ofAlabamajhave inventedcertain new and useful Improvements inPeanut-Stripping Machines, of which the'following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings. 1

This invention relates t-o mechanismI forv stripping peanuts from thevine and particularly to improvements in peanut picking mechanism whichforms the subjectof Patent #1,196,458 granted to me on August 29, 1916.

The general object of my invention is to provide a peanut strippingmechanism in which the vines are passed througha plurality of` strippingdevices, each time changing the direct-ion, of movement ofthe vines,these devices being so constructedl as to thoroughly tear apart thevinesand agitato them so as to get rid of the dirt'and sand adheringthereto and lto the nuts and separate the nuts from the vines so that atthe last the vines are discharged with all of the Vpeanuts detachedtherefrom. v

Still another obj ect of the invention is to provide for carrying backthose peanuts which have not been fully stripped or'to which-portions ofthe vine or towhich the stems adhere so that these peanuts may-'be againsubjected to the actionof one or more of the stripping devices. 1 ,y

Still another obfect of this invention is to provide means whereby thepeanuts may be subjected to a relatively gentle detaching actioninitially and successively subjected to more energetic successiveactions to thereby prevent the crushing of relatively dry nuts.

A further object is to providel means whereby the sprocket chains ofthegang .of chains upon which the vines are first .deposited may move atvarying rates of speed to more thoroughly separate the vines to thusprevent Vthe vines from bunching- 'or clogging the machinery, and-securea better separation of the nuts from the vines.

Other objects' will appear in the course My invention is illustratedpanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a 4peanutstripping machine constructed in accordance with; my invention; Y

in the 1 accom- Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, andshowing in dotted lines the means ,for driving the various rotatableelements;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged viewon-the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View on the line 1--1 of Fig. 2;

Fig. `5 is a sectional view of one of the sprocket wheels 17 and itsconnected gear wheel 29;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the screen 52; 4

Fig.Y 7 is a side elevation of the means for oscillating the hopper 59;

vertical sectional Fig. 8 is a top plan yview vof the screens v 24 and52. Y

Referring to these figures, and particularly to Fig. 2, it will be seenthat my invention embodies a supporting frame of any suitableconstruction, preferably mounted.

upon wheels and havingdraft attachments applied thereto so that it maybe readily moved from place to place if desired. The pea-nut ,vines arefed into the machine from the table 10. This table is hingedly mountedupon the vertical posts 11 which form the forward end of the frame sothat it may be turned up over the top of the frame when theA machine .isbeing transported from place. This table 10 is shown as sup-z to place.,Y ported upon'braces 12 of any suitable'construction which aredetachably connected Yto the posts 11 and on each side of the table.

there is disposed the platform 13 upon which the operator stands.

tween the posts 11 and is detachably supported by means of chains orother liexible connections 141.

Mounted upon the-frame in'any'suitable manner are the shafts 15 and 16carryingk This platformV is intended to fold downward or inwardbe-Y passover a table which is composed of the longitudinally extending members21 each of these members being formed with the longitudinally extendingslot 21?, as illustrated most clearly in Fig. 3, and the members beingspaced from cach other to provide for the passage of the sprocketchainsi the confronting edges ofthe members 21 being rabbeted orotherwise formed to provide guideways over which the sprocket chainspass. These longitudinally extending members 21 may be supported in anysuitable manner and connected to each other atthe ends as may be foundmost convenient. These members may be formed in any suitable andconvenient manner and preferably attached to the gang formed of thesemembers, that is to the outermost members 21, are the downwardly andinwardly converging' walls 23 which extend downward toV a point justabove the lower Hight of the sprocket chain 19 and, as illustrated inFig. 3, the hopper formed -by these walls 23 discharges between twoadjacent sprocket chains 19 onto a screen 2lf whose purpose will belater stated.

Disposed above the upper liight of the sprocket chain 19 are a pluralityof vine retarding rolls shown as three in number and designatedrespectively 25, 26 and 27. These rolls are provided with radiatingspikes 2S, these spikes being arranged in staggered relation to thesprocket chains 19 carrying the spikes 20. rolls are all of the samediameter but rotate at dierent speeds. Thus I have illustrated the roll25 as being rotated relatively rap? idly7 the roll 2G as being driven atless speed, and the roll 27 as being driven at the slowest speed. Theroll 25 runs at the rate of about twelve revolutions 'a minute or nearlythe same rate as the screen; the roll 2G at about eight revolutions, andthe roll 27 at about four revolutions a minute. It will thus be seenthat there will be a small retardation of the vines when they enter themachine and that because of the difference in speed between the vinecarrier and the roller 25 the vines will be torn apart or rather thebundles rwill be torn apart and distributed. The cylinder 2G rotatesslower than the cylinder 25 and, as a consequence, there will be agreater difference in speed between the cylinder and the vine carrier sothat therey will be av greater tendency to tear apart the vine bundles.The roll 27 rotates at a still sloweri speed than the vine carrier sothat the vines are further rietarded in their movement. The action ofthese rolls 25, 26 and 27 is not-only to tear the vine bundles apart anddistribute the vines evenly over the carrier but also these rolls act todetach a large nuinberof `dry peanuts from the vines so that the vinesare stripped to some degree before they pass Preferably Y these beneaththe last roll 27. The dirt, sand and other relatively heavy foreignmatter which is disengaged from the nuts and from the vines bythedistributing rolls will drop down through the chains 19, together withdry peanuts which may have become detached'f'rom the vines7 and dropupon the screen 24 which is perforated or reticulated So as to permitthe sand and dirt to drop down below the screen while the nuts pass onto lthe final screening device, as will be later described.

Preferably kin order to secure an even more thorough distribution of thevines than is otherwise possible, I so drive the chains 19 or thesprocketwheels 17 and 1S that the chains move alternately rapidly andslowly, that is the speed of any one chain is alternately rapid andalternately relatively slow, andi/for this purpose I mount upon theshaft 15 a plurality of elliptical gear wheels 29. There is one of thesegear wheels 29 for each of the sprocket wheels 17v and operativelyconnected thereto and I mount upon a -shaft 30 extending-parallel to theshaft 15 a plurality of elliptical gear wheels 31 coacting vwith theelliptical gear wheels 29 in a well-known manner so that the speed ofany one gear wheel 17 is alternately rapid and slow.` The gear wheels 31and `29 which coact with any oneA sprocket rwheel 17 are arranged inquartering relation to the gear wheels r31 and 29 on the next adjacentsprocket wheels so Athat while one sprocket chainis movingV slowly forinstance, the

next adjacent sprocket chains are moving fast. Thus while .the movementof all the sprocket chains 19 is forward, yet the sprocket chainsrelatively move forward and rearward and this movement7 together withthe action of the rolls 25, 26 and 27 tends to more thoroughly tearapart the bundles cr vines, more thoroughly distribute them, and acts tokeep the vines from clogging. This motion given to .theV vines is alsoof importance in that the peanuts are more thoroughly stripped from thevines during this portion of the operation than they would otherwise be.Y y The table formed by the members 21 extendsoutwardbeyond theperiphery of the sprocket, wheels 1S so as to strip the vines fromthese' sprocket wheels and prevent th'e vines passing aroundthese-sprocket wheels and the vines are .delivered upon an oscillatingslotted chute designated 32. This chute is oscillated by a rod 33 whichVextends downward from near the axis of the chute-to a crank .34 mountedupon a shaft 35. This chute 32 delivers the vines upon a secondstripping device now to be described. Mounted upon the frame. in anysuitable manner are the shafts 36 and 37 these shafts being disposed ina plane extending upward and rearward. Mounted upon these shafts vtratedclearly in Fig. 2.

36 and 37 are the sprocket wheels 38 over Vwhich pass a series ofsprocket chains 39 having outwardly projecting spikes or spurs. Theflights of the sprocket chains 39 are held in parallel relation bylongitudinally extending bars 40 and disposed in an approximatelyparallel relation to the forward and rear nights and the upper sprocketwheel 38 are a series of bars 41 spaced from each other and carryingspikes, these spikes being disposed yin staggered relation to the spikesor spurs of the sprocket chains 39. These bars 41 at their entrance andexit ends are spaced a greater distance from the flights of the sprocketchains 39 than at the middle portions of the bars 41, as illus- For thepurpose of stripping the vines from the spikes and the sprocket chains39, I provide the bars v43 which extend downward from the surface oft-he sprocket wheel 38 and then outward beyond the plane of movementofthe ends of the spikes on this sprocket chain 39-and -deliverthe vinesonto an oscillatingl chute 44.

From the chute 44 the vines are then delivered to a second nut detachingdevice which is constructed in exactly the same vmanner as the firstdevice and hence the same reference numerals are given to it.

.There is an upper and a lower shaft designated respectively 36L and 37aand carrying .upon them the sprocket wheels 38m over the first of theseoutwardly extending pea.-

nut detaching devices is the fact that the bars 41- extend somewhatfarther down on .the rear side than they do inthe firstA ofthesedevices. Here also a series ofstripping bars 43a isusedA to detachthe vines from the spikes -and prevent the vines being carried yaroundand around with the lflight of the sprocket chains.- The shaft 36offthisfthird stripping device is provided with a crank 45 which isconnected by means of a crank 46 to a bell crank lever 47, vin turnoperatively connected to the oscillating chute 44 so as to oscillate ittherewith.

.While I do not wishto be limited toany particular means of connectingthe rolls 25,

.26and 27and the shaft 30 toa driving shaft or shafts, I haveillustrated a driving shaft 48 which may beoperated in any suitablemanner and with any desired power and have illustrated belts on thisshaft engaging the several rolls 25` 26 and 27 and the shaft v30 andhavealsoillustrated this shaft 48 as being belted to theuppermost shaft 37,

this shaft in lturn carrying a belt wheel whereby power is communicatedthrough a belt 49 to the shaft 37a. The crank shaft `is also shown asdriven from the shaft48 though, as above stated, I do not wish to belimited to this as it is obvious that other means for connecting thedriving power to the several shafts may be used.

The screen 24 is a reciprocating or shaking screen. lt is preferablyvmade of perforated sheet metal, the perforations being small enough toprevent the peanuts from 'passing downward but permitting the passage ofsand and dirt. This screen 24 is shown as mounted upon links 50 and atits rear end slidably mounted upon the frame as by cleats 51. Thepeanuts that are discharged through the lower iiight of the chains19-are received upon this screen andl so also are the peanuts which maybe dis` charged or disengaged from the vines while the vines are passingthrough the second of the nut detaching devices. The nuts which aredischarged from the third of the nut detaching devices and also thevines which are so discharged fall upon a screen 52 which is also areciprocatinglscreen. The lower end of this screen 52 is provided withlater ally disposed legs or links 53 between which the screen 24 passes,as illustrated clearly in Fig. 8. The screen 24 is oscillated by meansof a link 54 connected to a crank 55 on the crank shaft 34, Ywhile thescreen 52 is oscillated by having the lower ends of its legs 53operatively yconnected to said crank '55, the screen 52 being mountedupon links 56. The screen 52 is of sheet iron formed with a plurality ofsemi-circular openings each of the openings being provided with anupwardly projecting vtongue 57, as illustrated in Fig..6.V These tonguesextend upward and rearward so that as th'e screen is oscillated thetongueswill catch the vines and drag the vines upward so that the vinesare gradually discharged from the upper end of the screen 52 while thenuts fall through the perforations 57a.. These uplvwardlyextendingtongues prevent the too rapidV descentof thenuts but permit them tofallth'rough` the perforations 57a but any nuts which do roll down thescreen 52 find lodgment Aupon the lower end. of the screen 24. Beneaththis screen 52 is a chute 58 of sheet metal which discharges the nutswhich may fall through the screen. 52 onto the lower end of the screen54. Disposed below `the vlower end of the screen 24 Ais a hopperlikebody 59 having downwardly converging side walls discharging into atrough 60. The hopper-like body 59 is mounted so that vit mayreciprocate laterally,.'as for instance bybeing provided with `wheels 61engaging with VJthe tracks 62, this hopper-like body being reciprocatedin any suitable manner. At `its mouth the hopperl59 isprovided withsectional screens 63, these screens having semi-circular openings 64with tongues 65 extending downward and forward. These screens dischargeeverything that remains upon their upper surfaces into a trough 66. Thistrough is downwardly and laterally inclined and discharges into anelevator 67 of any suitable construction which extends upwardandrearward and discharges into a hopper (3S which in turn dischargesbetween the bars 41 so that the nuts carried up by this elevator arere-submitted to the action of the stripping devices. Disposed forward ofthe hopper 59 is a fan casing G9 having therein a fan 70, shown as arotatable fan, and thisfan casing G9 is connected by an elongated nozzle7l to the forward wall ot' the hopper 59 so that the blast of air isdischarged from the fan casing into the hopper 59 and against the underfaces of the screens G3. This nozzle 71 may be of ieXible material so asto permit the lateral reciprocation of the hopper 59 without affectingthe fan casing. The fan is illustrated as beingdriven by a belt 72 froma beltwheel on shaft 35 and from a band wheel on the shaft of thefan, abelt 7 3 is illustrated as driving a shaft 74e having upon it a beveledgear wheel 7 5. engaging a beveled gear wheel 7 G in turn driving acrank shaft 77 which in turn is connected by a link 7 8 to the dependingportion of the hopper 59 or, to be exact, to the trough 60. By thismeans a reciprocating movement is given to the hopper 59 and to thetrough 60. This agitates the material upon the screen 63 so as to shakethe nuts down through the apertures in the screen and also acts to jaror shake the nuts discharged into the trough so as to carry themlaterally and permit them to be discharged at the side of the machine,as illustrated in Fig. l.

lVliile I have illustrated the details of construction which I believeto be extremely effective for the purpose intended, yet it is to beunderstood that many of these details may be changed without departingfrom the spirit ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims and I,therefore, do not wish to be limited to any of the detailsiillustratedand particularly I do not wish to be limited to the means illustratedfor driving the various elements of which the machine is composed. Thegeneral operation of the mechanism will be obvious from what has gonebefore. The vines are fed to the chains 19 where the bundles are tornapart and distributed. At this point a large number of peanuts aredetached from the vines and drop upon the screens 24 and are carried'downwardto the screens (33 of the hopper 59. The vines pass on to thechute 32 and are then tossed upward or shaken and are engaged by theprongs or pins projecting from the sprocket chains 39. The vines arethus drawn upward and submitted to the action of the pins on the barsitl and the pins on the sprocket chains so that the vines are stillfurther torn apart and the nuts disengaged. The nuts disengaged at thispoint drop through the bars 40 and are discharged upon the screen 24 orcarried over the upper sprocket wheels 38 and discharged downward ontothe shaking chute 44. This chute, like the chute 32, is slotted orcomposed of bars so that the nuts can drop through but the vines willnot drop through. The vines are then caught by the pins on the sprocketchains 39nu and are drawn upward beneath the bars 4l and so around andarefstripped from the pins on the sprocket chains 39a by the stripperbars 43a. The vinesfby this time have become entirely stripped of nutsand the vines, and nuts, which are Adetached by this last operation,drop down upon the screen 52 and the vines are carried up by thereciprocating action of this screen while the nuts either drop throughthe screen or roll downward and are discharged upon the screen 24 andare then eventually discharged upon the screen G3. By this time all thedirt and foreign matter adhering to the nuts has been discharged, butoftentimes the stems of the nuts adhere thereto and itiis not desirablethat the nuts with these stems should be discharged from the machineuntil the stems have been detached and these nuts with the stems arescreened from the nuts without the stems by the screen 63 and dischargedinto the chute 68 to be again treated. My mechanism constructed as abovedescribed does not break the shells of the peanuts but it does acteffectively to strip the nuts from the vines so that the vines come outperfectly clean. It has been found in practice that a much largerpercentage of nuts is saved or stripped from the vine with the mechanismabove described than with the mechanism which is illustrated in my priorpatent before referred to. This is due to the fact that the direction ofmovement of the vines is changed. Thus the vines move forward in ahorizantal plane while they are passing beneath the rolls 25, 26 and 27and then the vines move downward and the direction of their movement ischanged quickly or suddenly by the action of the chains 39. This changeof movement tends to more etfectually detach the nuts than can possiblybe accomplished where the vines move in one plane and in one direction.The vines are then again changed in their movement by the engagement ofthe sprocket chains 89a. lVhile I have illustrated two of these upwardlyand rearwardly extending stripping devices, I wish it understood thatmore than two may be used if necessary or less than two.

Peanuts when they are brought to be stripped from the vines aresometimes very dry, sometimes damp, but more often part of the peanutsare very dry and part are damp. The shells-of theV very dry peanuts arevery veasily crushed, While the shells of the damp peanuts arerelatively tough, not so easily crushed, and not so easily detached fromthe vines. My mechanism makes provision for this condition. When thevines are initially "passed beneath therolls 25, 26 and 27 they aresubmitted to a relatively gentle action which does not crush the dry andbrittleV peanut shells but which at the same-time detachesv these drypeanuts, but this is ordinarily not sufficient to detach the peanutsWhose 'shells are not dry but somewhat damp. This isaccomplished byhaving the rolls 25, 26 and 27 rotate in the same direction asthe'sprocket chains 19 and it will be noted that While the roll 25rotates at very nearly 'the same speed as the speed of movement ofthesprocket chains, the rolls 26 and 27 rotate at a successively lowerspeed. Thus the action of the first roll is particularly gentle and thedriest peanuts will be accordingly detached While the next driestpeanuts will be detached by the roll 26. Furthermore, as was stated, thechains 19 have their spikes 20 disposed about four inches apart, Whilethe spikes' on the chains 39 are only about three inches apart,measuring laterally across the series of chains and the spikes on thechainsv 39a are about two inches apart, measuring laterally. The same istrue of the spikes on the bars 41 and 41a, these being correspondinglynearer together. The consequence of this arrangement is that, as beforestated, the vines are submitted to a relatively light or gentle tearingaction when they first enter the machine Whereby the dry nuts aredetached Without crushing and then the vines are successively submittedto a stronger action as f they pass through the second series ofstripping devices and the third set of stripping devices so that whenthe lvines are finally discharged, the peanuts have been ventirelystripped from the vine. This is a very important feature of my inventionfor the reason that in ordinary peanut stripping mechanisms there is aconsiderable loss due to the crushing of the nut shells, or, on theother hand, if the tearing and detaching actions are too light, the lossdue to nuts adhering to the vines. While on the One hand the producermust secure the largest possible crop from the vines, yet on the otherhand, the Wholesale buyer insists that no peanut shells shall be brokenor even cracked so that they Will open upon pressure and if an order 'ofpeanuts is delivered to the buyer with only a small proportion of theshells cracked or in the oyster mouth condition, as it is termed in thetrade, the -price for the entire lot will be very greatly reduced or theorder returned upon the producers hands.

Having thus' described this invention, what 1. In a peanut pickingmachine, a plurality of endless vine carriers provided Withvine-engaging projections, and disposed in relation to the path ofmovement of `the endless elements and having vine-engaging pro-Yjections coacting With the projections on the endless elements. 3. In apeanut picking machine, a plural- .ity of endless vine carriers providedVwithv vine-engaging projections disposed to successively change thedirection of movement ofthe vines, members disposed in proximity to thevendless carriers and having projections coaeting With the projectionson the carriers, to strip the peanuts from the vines, and oscillatinglchutes arranged betvveen the endless vine carriers and acting totransfer the vines from one carrier to the next carrier.

4. In a peanut picker, a plurality of endless elements disposed side byside and moving at all times in the same plane and in the same directionbut at unequal speeds, each of said endless elements havingvine-engaging projections. l l

5. In a peanutV picker, a plurality of endlesselements disposedl side byside and'movingat all times inthe same plane and in the same directionbut at unequal speeds, each of said endless elements having vine-engag-Ving projections, and members disposed in parallel relation to the pathof movement of the endless elements and having vine-engaging projectionscoacting with the projections on the endless elements.

6. In a peanut picker, a plurality of endless elements disposed side byside and moving constantly in the same direction and at all times in thesame plane, and having vineengaging projections, members disposed inparallel relation to the path of movement of said endless elements andhaving coacting vine-engaging projections, and means for alternately,accelerating and retarding the sped of movement of the alternate endlesselements.

7. In a peanut picker, a plurality of endless elements disposed side byside and moving constantly in the same direction and at all times in thesame plane, each element having vine-engaging projections, membersdisposed in' parallel relation to theV path of movement of the endlesselements and having coacting vine engaging projections, and meansconstantly changing the speed of movement of any endlesselementJ'elat-ively to the next adjacent endless element.

8. In a peanut picker, vine-engaging members moving in a closed pathinthe same-vdirection and in the same plane and disposed side byl side,having vine-engaging projections, members disposed in approximatelyparallel relation to. thepath off-*movement of said vfirst named membersand having coactingvine-engaging projections, and means constantlyvarying the speed of any-one of saidfirst-named members, relative to thespeed :of the next adjacent members.

9. In a .peanut picker, an endless vine carrier disposed ina horizontalplane and rprovided with. vine-engaging. projections, a plurality. ofrollers `having vine-engaging Ap'roj ections and mounted above saidendless carrierrand rotating at dierent speeds, anendlessvcarrierdisposed at an-angle to the first named 4endless carrier and havingvine-ens gaging projections, members extending over the upper. `portionof the endless carrier land having vine-engaging projections pointingltowardA the endless carrier, and means for guiding thevvines from thefirst named end` less carrier tothe second name-d endless carrier.

10.7In a peanut picker, an endless vine carrier, disposed in arhorizontal planev and provided with vine-engaging projections androllers mounted above said endless carrier and rotatingat differentspeeds, an endlesscarrier having downwardly divergent flights, bothflights being disposedat anr angle to the first named endless carrierand having. vine-engaging projections, members having portions extendingdownward over both ofsaid flights and having vine-engaging rprojectionspointing toward the endless Copiesfihis `patent may .Le obtaineafox;five cents each, lby v:addressing .the Commissioner carrier, and meansfor guiding the vines from the first-named endless carrier to the secondnamed endless carrier. l

ll. In a mechanism of the character de-v scribed, a pair of sprocketwheels, an endlessv element passing over the sprocket `wheels and havingoutwardly projectingv pins, and means for stripping the material fromsaid endless element, comprising bars disposed inv staggered relation tothe pins, the bars at oneend being in-contiguity to the face ofthelendless element and diverging outward at the discharge end, wherebyto lift the material from the pins.

l2. In a peanut stripping machine, a plurality of stripping devices,each of said devices comprising relatively fixed and movable elementsbetween which peanut vines are adapted to pass, the fixed and movableelements being formed with confronting vine engaging projections, theprojections on the series of devices being' successively nearer to eachother whereby to initially subject the vinesto a relatively gentletearing action and successively subject the vines to a more energetictearing action.

13. Ina mechanism ofthe character described, yupper and lower wheels, anendless element passing around said upper and lower wheels, said endlesselement having outwardly projecting stripping pins, and a fixed elementdisposed approximately` parallel to the endless element and extendingover the upper sprocket wvheeland having. inwardly projectingpins, theends of said fixed element being disposed in slightly divergent relationto the path of .movement of the endless element.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my of- Patents. 1

Washington,DJI.`

